Highland Bakery starts online service

Starting in 2014, Tech’s Highland Bakery is offering a new, advance online ordering system. By going to the Highland Bakery website, Tech students, faculty and staff members can now order their food in advance and pick it up in a timely manner at the Highland location under Tech Tower.

“The Georgia Tech location is the only one that offers the online ordering. Ultimately, our goal on campus is to make dining a very pleasant, enjoyable and efficient process,” said Rich Steele, Senior Director of Auxiliary Services. Although the online ordering system is a new feature beginning this year, GT Dining and Highland Bakery have been planning to start this system somewhere on campus for some time.

“It has been a part of our conversations since we decided to place them in the building. Highland originally had some complications with their service provider, but now the system is running. It took about a year to develop but we understand that’s the future of [the dining] industry. That’s the way our customers need to be served,” Steele said.

In the future, Tech students may see the online ordering approach implemented at other eateries on campus. Students should keep in mind, however, that the model might not be applicable to all on-campus dining options. Tech is also trying to cater to the stereotypical college student by making late night delivery a viable option.

“My guess is that, over the next year, we will try to roll [the online ordering system] out to other locations. We are also working on the delivery side. We are trying to make it efficient for students to order late night food,” Steele said.

Along with the novel online approach, Highland Bakery also plans to place a smaller-run operation in Tech’s library. The Highland Bakery Express pilot, which ran from Dec. 2 to Dec. 12 last year, proved to be a hit among Tech students. The Highland Bakery Express allowed students to purchase an array of sandwiches, pastries and drinks at the Tech Library East Commons Café, which was formerly Jazzman’s cafe.

“The Highland Bakery Express library pilot was very successful and that is another great opportunity to meet the needs of students. Yes, the pilot program was not a long-term operation but now we are going through a final design process and adding some sneeze guards and maybe a hand sink along with some other elements to help the execution,” Steele said.

Steele also mentioned several other fascinating concepts. One thought revolved around the idea of delivering the Highland Bakery Express orders to students throughout the library and the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (CULC). Another involved a new approach on dining-in.

Online ordering at Highland Bakery is currently available at highlandbakery.com. The website currently accepts major credit cards and limits orders to be placed by 4:30 p.m. if they are to be picked up the same day.